LAND O' LAKES — It was shaping up to be a Pasco County All-Star Game all about the small schools. Especially when Mykh'ael Chavis, from Zephyrhills Christian, churned in for a 9-yard touchdown run with 1:12 remaining to give the East a 21-13 lead.

But that was enough time for the host school's quarterback, and a couple of familiar friends, to change the script. Sunlake's Justin Hall orchestrated a four-play drive that covered 74 yards, then added the tying two-point conversion pass to Gulf's Issaiah Groen, and the West went on to an exciting 27-21 overtime victory.

Overall MVP Cyler Doran (Hudson), one of three West quarterbacks, was inserted for his running ability and it paid off when he scooted through the defense for the 8-yard winning score on third down.

But it was Hall's 4-for-4 performance on the tying drive that keyed the comeback. The first two passes went to fellow Seahawk Tyler Peretti for 20 and 38 yards, and after a swing pass to Braxton Johnson (Anclote) for 6, Hall (11-of-15 for 161 yards) found another Sunlake player Cris Galdos for a 10-yard TD over the middle. …

TAMPA — After an admittedly slow start to the season, the Sickles boys basketball team suddenly appears to be running along just fine.

A prime example was Wednesday night’s Class 8A, District 8 clash with Wharton, a team that came into the Sickles’ gym with a 5-0 record.

A little more than an hour later, Wharton walked out with a 58-38 defeat and a heap of respect for the Gryphons.

“All the credit has to go to Sickles, but there also is no discredit to us,” Wharton coach Tommy Tonelli said. “I thought we played hard and did a lot of things really well, but Sickles has a lot of nice pieces that can make it tough for any team to play.”

Four minutes later, county scoring leader Jordyn Kadlub kicked one in off a through ball from Brianna Luna for her 34th goal of the season. A minute after that, Luna headed the ball to her sister Jenny, who scored from inside the small box for the go-ahead goal and a 4-3 lead. …

The Pinellas All-Star Football Classic is at Clearwater High on Wednesday night at 7. Admission is $10 (parkin $), and tickets can be purchased in advance at Allen Sporting Goods. All proceeds after expenses go toward a scholarship fund. This game is for seniors and nominations came from coaches.

The Robinson Knights took home the first-place team trophy with 178 points.

DUNEDIN — The Peter Barker Invite got a little surprise when it ballooned from the original 18-team slate to 22 teams. A late start forced officials to speed up the meet by setting shorter periods in matches up to the championship final and the final bouts just got in under 10 p.m. On hand Saturday were former Dunedin state champions Clarence Arrington and Kyle Goodnow, both currently serving in the military.

In the early going, Wiregrass Ranch was in the lead but Robinson put two wrestlers in the finals with 113-pounder Isaac Guillermo scoring a third-period pin over Calvary Christian’s Michael Sarron to win the title. A host of other Knights battled through wrestlebacks to stack the winning margin 178-164 over Northeast. Wiregrass Ranch was third with 145 and host Dunedin took fourth with 142.

“We’ve got a core of hard-working, young guys with experience,” Robinson coach Tommy Montero said. “The first few rounds and then the last round really did it for us, guys battling back through wrestlebacks and getting bonus points.” …

Each week, our HomeTeam staffers nominate male and female Hot Shot athletes from each of the counties we cover. Then we turn the voting over to readers. These nominations span Saturday, Nov. 26 through Friday, Dec. 2. Read up on all of our nominees then vote until noon Monday.

Female nominees

Mickey Carney, basketball, Academy of the Holy Names: The junior scored 17 points and added 13 rebounds in a 44-40 win over district foe Brooks DeBartolo. She is averaging 12 points and 10 rebounds through eight games.

Amaka Eziakonwa, basketball, King: The senior guard did a little bit of everything in a win over Hillsborough, with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 11 steals.

The Hillsborough East-West All-Star game will be held Saturday at Raymond James Stadium. Kickoff is 6 p.m. Here are the rosters for both teams. The game is for seniors and selections came from their high school coaching staffs.

EAST LAKE – In the final minute of the first half, Darius Banks caught an alley-oop pass from Serrel Smith and completed a two-handed dunk.

The highlight-worthy play also was a historic one.

Bank’s jam broke the previous school record of 1,823 points set by Carlton Bryant, a former standout for the Green Devils in the early 1990s. The points continued to pile up in the second half for Banks, who finished with 24 in a 69-59 win over East Lake.

“I wasn’t really feeling it until after the game,” Banks said of setting the career points record at the school. “It was just a regular two points for me. It meant something but just not in the moment.”

What mattered more was the win. The game was a rematch of last year’s Class 7A, District 10 final. Both teams moved up in classification to 8A but are still in the same district.

“This win was very big,” Banks said. “We’re 2-0 in the district and this one was on the road. Those are way better than wins at home.”

The game also marked the return of Smith, who missed the first two games of the season with a bruised knee. Smith helped take the scoring burden off of Banks. In fact, Smith led all scorers with 30 points. …

PALM HARBOR — Both of Palm Harbor University's soccer teams maintained their perfect records Tuesday, although the boys had to work substantially harder to get it done.

While the girls got the last eight minutes off, thanks to a surprisingly lopsided 9-1 mercy-rule result over Wiregrass Ranch, the boys team had to defend like crazy for about the last 15 to hold off Wiregrass 1-0.

In fact, the visitors outplayed PHU (6-0-0) for the first half, putting on a tremendous display of possession that ended in several big-time tests for 'Canes goalie Jack Gallagher. The toughest was a rocket shot from freshman Malcolm Lewis that Gallagher parried off the crossbar in the 15th minute.

Gallagher had to make five first-half saves while PHU didn't get its first shot on goal until Daniel Wintermeier's long-range free kick in the 30th minute.

But the hosts came out with much more purpose after halftime, controlling the majority of play and getting rewarded with the lone goal in the 58th minute. After a hard foul led to a caution against Bulls standout defender Jackson Trudel, Wintermeier came up from defense and rose up to head home Hampton Lombard's 40-yard free kick. …

TAMPA – This was supposed to be the right moment for Seffner Christian’s breakthrough against Jesuit.

The stars had aligned for the Crusaders. They had a veteran team with 10 seniors on the roster, many of whom played varsity for years.

The Tigers, meanwhile, were expected to go through some growing pains after graduating three significant contributors from last season’s team that reached the Class 5A state semifinals.

What Jesuit lacked in experience, it made up for in resiliency. The Tigers overcame a five-point deficit in the second half to win 60-51 and remain undefeated.

“We thought this was going to be one of our toughest games of the year,” Jesuit coach Neal Goldman said. “We thought that was one of our best wins last year against Seffner Christian and we didn’t know how we were going to pull it off again. But we have some tough kids.”

The turning point came in the final four minutes. Lucas Uzdavinis hit one of his four 3-pointers to give the Tigers (3-0) a 48-45 lead with 3:37 remaining. Stevie Darst then hit a pair of free throws to make it 50-45 with 2:06 left. …

East Lake is up against an unbeaten Venice team that's capable of putting up loads of points.

Know the foe: Venice (11-0)

Up next: Hosts East Lake (9-1) in a Class 7A region final Friday.

Road to the state semifinals: D. South Fort Myers 56-0; d. Braden River 64-42

Season in a snap: The Indians have four shutouts this season, and held opponents to a touchdown or less in three other games. Venice is averaging 50 points a game. … Senior Matthew Laroche more than earns the nickname “Speedy,” outrunning defenses to the tune of 2,473 yards and 33 touchdowns. He hasn’t been held under 100 yards all season, and in two games against Braden River had 634 yards and eight touchdowns. In the region semifinal, junior dual-threat quarterback Bryce Carpenter ran for 264 yards and a school-record six touchdowns. In addition to his 16 passing scores, Carpenter has 14 TDs via the ground this year. … According to the Bradenton Herald, Venice converted on 12-of-16 third downs last week against Braden River, while converting three fourth downs.

Playoff history: The Indians’ lone state title (Class 5A) came in 2000. Venice reached the region semifinals a year ago before getting dispatched by district rival Braden River. The Indians got revenge in the same round this season. …

Plant's O-line will need to protect Dane Frantzen from a Viera attack that has registered 70-plus sacks as a team.

Know the foe: Viera (9-2)

Up next: Visits Plant (11-0) in a Class 7A region final Friday

Road to the state semifinals: D. Orlando East River 41-0; d. Stuart Martin County 53-45

Season in a snap: The Hawks have some pretty gaudy stats on defense, with a whopping 75 sacks and 22 interceptions. Junior Miguel Rodriguez is responsible for 26 sacks, including four in last week’s region semifinal. Junior Colton Farrington (five) and senior William Champion (four) lead the team in quarterback picks. … Junior quarterback Tim Demorat completes 68 percent of passes, with more than 2,000 yards passing and 22 touchdowns. He threw for 534 yards and five TDs a week ago. Four receivers have more than 350 yards each. … In Viera’s 17-7 loss to Cocoa, the game was actually called because of lightning late in the third quarter. Viera’s other loss came in the second game of the season to Washington D.C.’s Gonzaga, 31-19. Demorat threw three of his eight interceptions on the season in that one.

Playoff history: The Hawks have only two postseason appearances, in 2014 and 2015. Viera was the state runnerup a year ago, losing 45-10 to state powerhouse Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas. …